I am just wondering if referring a maid is the same thing as referring a maid center. I am not sure how much influence maid centers have on the workers they produce.

My experience is its better to be careful with getting a maid from some maid center just because someone had a good experience with one of them.

Its better to get an actual maid referred to you. So don't get your hopes too high on this one Kay. See if you can get an actual person referred to you. Besides the maid centers are trying to selling something. Jade, that is probably a great maid center!

It is better to engage a maid from from a known source and with proper reference. Please pay her well and treat her well. You will see how they become a part of your family. There is always a chance to engage a wrong one, if you hire them from a professional agency. But this may not be a generalised comment. Maids coming with personal references are very very good. But one has to pay well and treat them well.

Do these maids look beautiful because its almost an unspoken zambian secret that a sexy maid always ends up being screwed. When i was a little boy our maid used to let me play with her mammary glands and i think this is what turned me into the randy nkungulume i am today. I have noticed the smart wives in Zambia always hire an old maid or a relative from the husbands side to prevent the husband chopping the maid.

Kay, I warn and advise you. Please napapata dont get one from a so called maid centre. They are useless,totally ill trainedYou are better with someone u can find close by or from kumunzu, 1 u can groom. Maid centres nibakawalala chabe

You sound like a perfectly intelligent and educated town dweller. But yours is just an opinion.

Actually, I kind of agree with you on those totally useless maids. But check this out. I 'm not a proponent of the kumunzi maid either. I don't know what has happened to this country of ours. There was a day when you could rely on that maid from kumunzi. But not anymore. On average, it takes the kumumzi girl (at least I suspect most kumunzi maids are female) about 5 to 8 weeks to be totally corrupted in these urban areas. If you ask, I think it is the proliferation of the Internet.

Not even two months ago, I over-heard two maid-looking girls who seemed like it had not even been four days since they landed in Lusaka from the village. And these two girls were discussing Facebook. I said to myself, this is the end of civilization as we know it.

Before people get all excited and start bolting to submit resumes do some due dilligence first.

1. Have the man give you his personal details and have these checked out by his country of origin, interpol and other law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally.

2. Speak to people from IOM, the UN agency that deals with migration and illegal trafficing for neferious purposes. Make sure everything is on the up and up.

3. Get a clear job description, expectations and work hours. Lest you become a live-in-slave. Note that slavery is still rampant in the middle east. You might have an 84 hour working week and have to serve your boss and his friends sexually too.

Find out the horror stories from Filipino maids in the middle east.

PS be prepared to live in a country that allows no alcohol, doesn't allow women to drive (even in emergencies), doesn't allow you to practice any faith but Islam. All punishment is traditionally corporal!